Colorado State running back Gartrell Johnson celebrates a fourth-quarter touchdown against Brigham Young and gets a chest bump from CSU alumnus Joey Porter during a game at Hughes Stadium on Nov. 1, 2008. Johnson was penalizes for excessive celebration.

Former Colorado State and NFL linebacker Joey Porter was hired by the Pittsburgh as a defensive assistant coach, according to CSU.

Porter spent the 2013 season as an undergraduate student assistant for the school, helping the Rams to an 8-6 record, including a 48-45 win over Washington State in the New Mexico Bowl.

Defensive coordinator and linebacker coach Brent Guy — former head coach at Utah State
a
Another familiar name: Tulsa freshman cornerback Ray Crockett Jr., son of the starting cornerback on the Denver Broncos’ Super Bowl championship teams in 1997 and 1998.

“I called Mike Vrabel,” Porter said Thursday during an interview session with reporters.

Vrabel, a three-time Super Bowl champion with New England and an all-pro in 2007, returned to Ohio State in 2011 after a 14-year NFL career. Vrabel coaches Ohio State’s defensive line as a full-time assistant.

Following a 13-year NFL career, four Pro Bowl appearances and a Super Bowl ring with Pittsburgh (2005 season), Porter returned to Colorado State this week. While completing his bachelor’s degree requirements, he will be an unpaid undergraduate student assistant for the Rams.

Colorado State had an opening on its coaching staff and head coach Jim McElwain turned to an old friend to fill it.

Art Valero was added to the staff as the team’s new tight ends coach, and in fact is living temporarily with McElwain and started this week. Valero, out of football last season, was most recently with the Tennessee Titans, coaching the offensive line, in 2011. That was the last of a 10-year stint coaching in the NFL, which included being on Jon Gruden’s staff in Tampa Bay when the Buccaneers won the Super Bowl in 2002.

Valero also has 21 years of college coaching experience, most recently with Lousville (1998-01) as the offensive line/assistant head coach. He coached there with McElwain.

“To get a guy like Artie is unbelievable for us,” McElwain said. “I think it speaks volumes for where we’re headed, and the word on the street out there that Colorado State is a viable place.”

McElwain said interest in the job was high.

“The people who showed interest in this job — I was overwhelmed at the quality of the guys,” McElwain said.

The Rams did not have a specific tight ends coach last season, so this was a chance to add that. The vacancy was created when CSU lost quarterbacks coach/assistant head coach Billy Napier to Florida State, where he will be the tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator.

“This will really helps us,” McElwain said. “His knowledge and his experience is something that is really invaluable.”

Meanwhile, the Rams have added titles to offensive coordinator Dave Baldwin and linebackers coach Tim Skipper. Baldwin is now also CSU’s quarterbacks coach, while Skipper adds the designation assistant head coach to his title.

“I can’t say enough good things about all the guys on our staff,” McElwain said. “In this case, Tim is a guy who is a fantastic coach. He’s a guy that gets it. He grew up in the profession, his dad’s a 30-year NFL coach and his brother is currently coaching in the league. Tim just grew up in football, and he’s a guy that can really help take some of those chores that I get bogged down with sometimes.

“He really knows how to handle it and he’s really good with our team. He’s a guy that deserves it and has done a heckuva job for us and has been really loyal. In this business, for guys to hang with you and not just take the next job. I’ve been fortunate that our staff has turned down some things at other places and obviously know that we’re here to build something great at Colorado State.”

Follow Chris Dempsey on Twitter @dempseypost or email him at cdempsey@denverpost.com

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Here are some notes and anecdotes left over from Colorado’s national football signing day, the first at CU for newly hired coach Mike MacIntyre:

* Colorado’s 13 signees from California (among a class of 20) is the most from that state since the 1973 season, when freshman became eligible to play. The previous high was 12 Californians signed to Bill McCartney’s 1986 class. Last year, then CU coach Jon Embree signed 10 Californians. That’s tied for third-most since 1973, along with the 10 in Rick Neuheisel’s 1995 class.

* Coaches often try to balance out a squad based on previous recruiting. In 2012, Embree signed four tight ends and six defensive tackles, so MacIntyre saw no need to add to those positions in this class. On the other hand, Embree did not sign a linebacker in 2012, so MacIntyre added five LBs on Wednesday.

* Coaches like to say they want winners. Well, according to research by CU sports-infomation director David Plati, 17 of this year’s 20 signees won a championship (league, division, district, state, etc.) at some level during their high school careers.

* Wide receiver Elijah Dunston is a distant cousin of former Chicago Cubs shortstop Shawon Dunston. Let’s see if Elijah’s hands catching a football are as soft and sure as Shawon’s were when he fielded a ground ball.

* Keen TV trivia buffs may have heard of the name Robert De Grasse. That’s the great grandfather of offensive-line signee Gunnar Graham, and the director of photography for the entire 157 episodes of the “Dick Van Dyke Show” (CBS, 1961-66) and other popular shows of that era including “I Love Lucy,” “Make Room For Daddy” and the “Jack Benny Show.”

* Running back Phillip Lindsay will be the first Denver South graduate on a CU football roster since Scott Martin and Shelby Nash were seniors in 1983.

* One of the uncles of quarterback signee Sefo Liufau is Jack Thompson, the “Throwin’ Samoan” quarterback for Washington State in the 1970s. Thompson later played in the NFL for Cincinnati and Tampa Bay.

* The name Chloe Sutton ring a bell? The U.S. Olympic swimmer for the Games of Beijing (2008) and London (2012) is an older sister to CU offensive-line signee Colin Sutton.

* The father of signee John Lisella (offensive lineman from Columbine), John Sr., was 12 years old when he won the NFL-sponsored Punt, Pass and Kick competition at Super Bowl VIII in Houston, where Miami defeated Minnesota, 24-7.

* And finally, this may make you feel old: Linebacker signee Ryan Severson was born on Jan. 2, 1995 — the day that Colorado defeated Notre Dame 41-24 in the Fiesta Bowl, with Buffs QB Kordell Stewart earning game MVP honors.

Thanks again to Plati for those tidbits.

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Pueblo’s big football weekend is worth a toast over the Southern Colorado city’s best-known cuisine — a Slopper, which for the unitiated is the local version of a Mexican hamburger.

CSU-Pueblo, the fifth-year Division II program, gets another crack in the national playoffs Saturday, playing host in the round of 16 to the University of Indianapolis at noon at the Neta and Eddie DeRose ThunderBowl adjacent to the campus on the north side of town. Indianapolis, with an enrollment of about 5,600, is a Methodist school and was known as Indiana Central until 1986.

A win Saturday over the Greyhounds “would mean a lot,” said CSU-Pueblo coach John Wristen. “One of the reasons we want to bring (football) back was to tie this community together. I hate to say it, but this great game of football can do that. It’s brought people out, competing at tailgates, it’s brought people out to treat this as a big-time atmosphere.”

Also at 1 p.m. Saturday, two Pueblo high schools will be in action in state playoff semifinal games. In Class 3A, Pueblo East (10-2, No. 5 seed) will meet Rifle (12-0, No. 1) at Pueblo’s Dutch Clark Stadium. In Class 4A, Pueblo West (12-0, No. 1) will face Monarch (11-1, No. 5) at Centaurus High School in Lafayette.

Wristen said he regretted that the Pueblo East game couldn’t have been switched to Friday night to avoid a conflict and to allow fans to attend both games. But that decision by the Colorado High School Activities Association makes sense, given that East’s opponent and its fans from Rifle will be making a nearly 300-mile drive to Pueblo.

If CSU-Pueblo wins Saturday, it will play host to a Dec. 1 quarterfinal, so that also might conflict with Pueblo West and/or Pueblo East appearances in state championship games, but neither would be in Pueblo. The 3A game is set for Legacy Stadium at Cherokee Trail High School in Aurora, while the 4A game is set for Sports Authority Field at Mile High.

I’ll have a setup feature on the ThunderWolves in the Friday paper and online. (UPDATE: It’s here.) I’ve done several major stories in the ThunderWolves and the startup program in the past few years, including pieces on two of Wristen’s current assistants, former CU quarterback Bernard Jackson and ex-Broncos running back/receiver Steve Sewell. In fact, Sewell also is featured in the piece I wrote this week about what happened to the Broncos in Kansas City in what turned out to be Super Bowl seasons. It ended up running as a blog and is available here.

Jim Nantz drives all kinds of carts as a TV broadcaster. He’s CBS’ go-to guy — for college basketball, the NFL and the PGA, among others. Basically for everything.

So Nantz is in a unique position, and close enough to the action, to comment on all kinds of upcoming biggies in the sports world. He’ll be especially busy this month with March Madness, as the Final Four play-by-play voice at the NCAA Tournament.

He’ll then zip over to Augusta in early April for golf’s Super Bowl — the Masters. Not to mention, as a veteran NFL voice on CBS’ A-team, Nantz got a good look at the Broncos and Tim Tebow last season.

So Colorado sports fans have plenty to talk about with Nantz, when he answers questions next week for The Denver Post’s “Fan Mail” Q&A.

Ask Nantz about March Madness, the Masters, the Broncos and Tebow, or anything else sporty. Let him have it.

Colorado State running back Gartrell Johnson celebrates a fourth-quarter touchdown against Brigham Young and gets a chest bump from CSU alumnus Joey Porter during a game at Hughes Stadium on Nov. 1, 2008. Johnson was penalized for excessive celebration.

How much does NFL linebacker Joey Porter love his alma mater, Colorado State?

Consider this: In April 2005, the man who was a keystone defender for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Super Bowl XL title team, donated $200,000 to renovate the Rams’ football locker room inside Moby Arena.

The renovation included new lockers, carpeting and showers.

“The way I always looked at it, if there was no Colorado State,
there would be no Joey Porter where he is today,” told The Post at the time. “This ties me with CSU
forever.”

The space was named the The Joey Porter Locker Room.

So it’s fitting that Porter, now with the Arizona Cardinals, be the one tackling questions from area college football fans before next week’s CSU-CU showdown at Sports Authority Field.

So fire away. Ask Porter about the state of Rams football, the CSU-CU rivalry and his NFL career.

Send your questions in an email to fanmail@denverpost.com. Please be sure to include your first name and where you are from. Questions will be accepted through Wednesday morning.

Mason Crosby accounted for seven of Green Bay’s 31 points in Sunday’s Super Bowl. Four PATs and a 23-yard field goal with 2:07 remaining for the Packers’ final points. In a six-point victory over Pittsburgh, you could spin that factoid to say Crosby won the game for Green Bay.

Maybe that’s a stretch. But Crosby did become the fourth former Colorado player to score in a Super Bowl, a tidbit courtesy of CU’s associate AD Dave Plati. Crosby joins three other former Buffs to score in the Super bowl:

Despite the deep freeze throughout most of the nation, the fax machine in the Colorado State football office lit up on schedule.

The school’s web site, csurams.com, is releasing names as soon as the fax arrives. A big concern was Kapri Biggs, the Chicago Offensive Player of the Year who rushed for 2,654 yards as a senior. That area has received some of the worst of the blizzards.

TE Blake Jones of Tulsa, OK and DB DeAndre Elliott of Dallas, where the weather is freezing out some Super Bowl activities, also checked in.

With all the school closures, if a prospect can’t get a fax in, coaches are not permitted under NCAA rules to discuss at unssigned prospect at signing day press conferences around the country.

Despite assurances from nowbound recruits over the phone, coaches are likely to remain very nervous until all the faxed signatures or mailed hard copies show up.

BOULDER — Brian Cabral says he bleeds black and gold but at one time Colorado’s interim coach bled blue and gold and, on special occasions, green.

Cabral’s father was the first Hawaiian to play at Notre Dame. Brian grew up in Kailua, Hawaii, dreaming he’d play for the Irish. In fact, during his recruiting process, while his father was in Vietnam, Brian told all other schools to not bother calling or visiting. He was going to South Bend.

Only one problem. Notre Dame coach Ara Parseghian wasn ‘t interested.

“I was heartbroken,” Cabral said during his Monday press conference. “In all reality, I didn’t know the difference between Colorado and Colorado State. I didn’t realize where I was going when I got on the plane. I didn’t realize where I was going until I looked on a map on the plane and realized how far I was going.

“But I’ll never forget, the night I got in it snowed. I’d never seen snow before. The next day was a typical Colorado day: clear blue skies, it was two or three inches of snow on the ground. I was walking around in a sweatshirt.

“And I fell in love.”

Cabral wound up with 297 tackles, which is tied for 16th on the all-time list, playing for Bill Mallory from 1975-77. He captained the 1976 Big Eight chamjpionship team. He played nine years in the NFL, including two seasons with Atlanta, one with Green Bay and six with Chicago. He captained the special teams for Chicago’s 1985 Super Bowl champions.

Little wonder he’s got no shortage of opinions. That makes him the perfect subject for The Denver Post’s “Fan Mail” feature.

Ask Williams a question about the state of his beloved Colorado Buffaloes. Prod him about what’s going on with the Broncos at Dove Valley. Quiz him on the direction the Nuggets are headed.

He’ll have a definite opinion.

Or ask him about one of the highlights of his life. Williams, one of the central characters in CU’s rise to national prominence in the late 1980s, was recently elected to the College Football Hall of Fame. He will be inducted at the 53rd annual awards dinner at the famed Waldorf Astoria in New York on December 7. Also, CU will honor him at its home opener on September 18 against Hawaii in what is being billed as Alfred Williams Day.

With Williams anchoring its defense, CU won a share of the national championship in 1990. Later he was a member of the Broncos’ Super Bowl title teams in the 1997 and 1998 seasons.

He is currently co-hosting an afternoon sports talk show on KKFN. That’s where he’s paid for his opinions.

Email your questions to Williams to fanmail@denverpost.com. His responses will appear at denverpost.com/sports beginning Friday and will also run in Saturday’s edition of The Denver Post. Please make sure and include your first name and where you are from.

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.